- US session trading has been very quiet this morning, with volumes well below average. Note that the annual rebalancing of the Russell small-cap indices is implemented today after the close. As of writing, the DJIA is down 0.11%, the S&P500 is flat and the Nasdaq is up very slightly.

- French bank BNP is reportedly very close to pleading guilty to criminal charges and paying an $8.9 billion fine for helping Iran, Sudan and other blacklisted governments get around US government sanctions. Meanwhile there are other reports that assert Barclays has lost two thirds of its dark pool trading business after the New York AG's suit. ING USA, Deutsche Bank, RBC and AllianceBernstein have reportedly stopped trading in BCS dark pools.

- Like Lennar yesterday, KB Homes widely topped consensus expectations in its second quarter earnings report. Net new orders and the firm's order backlog continue to expand, and the company talked about buying more land. Shares of KBH got a little bump at the open but are headed for unchanged in the first hour of trade, while LEN has given up its modest gains from yesterday and is now trading down 1%.

- Shares of Du Pont have fallen further in cash trading, building on steep declines in post-market action after the company trimmed its FY14 outlook due to lower corn seed sales and higher-than-expected seed inventory write downs. Recall that Monsanto's quarterly report earlier this week included a 16% y/y decline in sales of genetically-engineered corn seeds. DD is down 4% as of writing.

- Following the release of its HomeKit SDK at the developers' day earlier in June, reports out this morning suggest Apple is exploring internet-connected hardware for the home. There aren't many details on what the company is working on, but its likely a smart speaker system or some type of controller for devices in the home, rather than a thermostat like Nest (recently acquired by Google).